I changed my overly long blog title at the start of this year. I wanted something that was more reflective of myself and my take on life because it has changed so much over time.
You see a few years ago I was stuck. Stuck in a job I hated, a life I wasn't enjoying and struggling to cope. And I still remember the table where I sat, in a noisy restaurant with my husband and saying I didn't want to do it anymore.
And he very calmly walked me through my options.
It took a few weeks but I reached crunch point at work and I quit. We sold our home and moved. We downsized and in doing so I got my life back.
This year I made the decision I wanted to be a writer. And I'm proud that twelve months later I am doing exactly what I set out to do.
It wasn't easy. But I don't think it ever is. I've faced countless knockbacks, endured lengthy waiting round periods and moments of punch in the guts disappointments. But it's always assuaged when I see something I wrote published somewhere.
On the way I've met amazing people, felt supported and loved the whole way through and at long last I feel I'm getting there. Though where "there" actually is I am not entirely sure. I'm hoping that there is a novel in there somewhere though!
I know that I'm greeting 2011 with a sense of great excitement because I'm determined to have an amazing year with my family.
And that's something I want to instill in my offspring. The knowledge that there are an infinite number of possibilities out there for them. That when they feel stuck, they will know I know what that feels like. And sometimes you have to make tough decisions to walk away, or to simply ride it out knowing that it will pass eventually.
I am guilty of getting too caught up in the minutiae of life.  You know the ones I mean. The teeth cleaning, the class lists, the keeping up with the Joneses crap that is the slough that clogs me down all too often. And so I hope that if nothing else my kids will embrace the innate sense of optimism I carry, and be filled with the sense of the excitement of the possibility, the choices available to them. Because they are so lucky to have them.